Akai Hana No Saigo: End Of The Red Flowers
by UltraM2000
Summary: Two-part Gojyo-centric poem about one fateful Sunday morning. Happy Mother's Day to all readers' moms (b'cos I doubt any mothers will be reading this)
1. Akai Hana No Saigo

Happy Mother's Day, minasan. Have you told your kaasan that you love her lately?

**Gojyo: **Trust me on this one--you should, Mother's Day or not, 'cause you never know when something could change.  
**M2000: **Hai.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Saiyuki, don't own copyrights, don't consider Kouka's name as canon, **DO **own Kouka's non-canon name and my fluffy muses (plus several delicious pics of the ikkou)

_**Akai Hana No Saigo**_

I had a father, his name was Sha Ren,  
And mother (Shuu Juko); I did not just _appear_.  
But I know naught of either; they did not watch o'er me;  
That duty was Kouka's, the stepmom I feared.  
I was a product of demon and human;  
Wasn't it clear she resented the fact?  
Eyes and hair coloured the shunned taboo crimson  
Doomed to be hated right off the track.  
Kouka was my guardian--well, in her hard way.  
She bore my small presence eight years and a while.  
But she always cried whenever she saw me;  
I wanted to see, just once, _kaasan_'s smile.  
That chance came to me one warm Sunday morning.  
Jien, my brother, was with my that day.  
I wanted to buy our _kaasan_ a present.  
Jien had money. He said he would pay.  
We stopped at the florist to pick out bouquet  
When the most striking blooms did I suddenly see.  
When Jien found out that his cash wouldn't cover it  
The florist quite kindly gave us the bunch free.  
We walked home, I and Jien. Then I quickened my steps  
And ran home ahead, increased my pace more.  
I showed her the flowers. She seemed quite receptive,  
That is, till she threw them straight down to the floor.  
I will not speak of the pain that she caused me  
As crimson-hued daisies lay strewn 'cross the sand--  
She took my small gift as a sly, mocking insult,  
Red blooms for Red Flowers, from filthy red hands.  
She raised up an axe to cleave me in two;  
I was ready to die. But 'twas living I stayed.  
Kaasan fell at my feet in a dark pool of blood  
And I saw Jien gripping his sword's bloody blade.  
Jien left home that night. I ne'er again saw him  
But I never forgot how he fought on my side  
Against his beloved mother. MY mother.  
The woman for which I'd have willingly died.  
If that's what it took for her to be happy,  
I wouldn't have minded, and this I speak true,  
But yet all I ask for my hungry young psyche  
Is somehow, maybe, she could love me too?  
Whether my eyes were as red as the sunset  
Or, like Jien's, dark as an amethyst stone,  
I just wanted a sign she did not really hate me;  
A sign she would not leave me unloved and alone.  
I had a father; his name was Sha Ren,  
And mother (Shuu Juko); I did not just _appear_.  
But I know naught of either; they did not watch o'er me;  
Kouka's the mother I wish was still near.

* * * * *


	2. Akai Hana No Saigo II

Happy Mother's Day, minasan. Have you told your kaasan that you love her lately?

**Kouka: **Somebody said you never need to. But somebody obviously wasn't a mother.  
**M2000: **Hai.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Saiyuki, don't own copyrights, don't consider Kouka's name as canon, **DO **own Kouka's non-canon name and my fluffy muses (plus several delicious pics of the ikkou)

_**Akai Hana No Saigo II**_

I had a son. His name was Sha Jien.  
I had a stepson, Gojyo his name  
Gojyo's the one I thought of in hatred  
Due to the eyes and hair, colour of flame.  
Born between demon (my husband, Sha Ren)  
And human (Feng Xiao Wei, the love I scarce knew),  
Crimson-haired, crimson-eyed twixt the folks of white blanket  
That Ren shoved upon me before the man flew.  
Though I should have tried love, eight years did I loath  
The crimson-haired halfbreed who entered my life.  
He tried so hard to please me, but I thought he was trouble  
Though it really was me who assumed all the strife.  
He came to me one day, that cold and clear Sunday,  
With no premonition of incoming doom,  
He tugged on my hem to get my attention  
And presented to me a bouquet of blooms.  
The child had a grin on his half-demon face  
As he said with his eyes filled with glee through and through,  
"Kaasan, here, look! The florist gave this to me!  
Aren't they pretty? They're all just for you!"  
_Kou-ka_. Red Flower. My name means Red Flowers.  
Red blooms from Red Flowers from filthy red hands  
I felt my gorge rising, blood rushed to my head,  
No more could I hold back. No more could I stand.  
I regret to report that I shredded the flowers  
And then I vented my rancour on him,  
Upon crimson hair as red as his blood,  
Though tears fell from crimson eyes not knowing his sin.  
I came pretty close to killing youg Gojyo--  
I had an axe-blade aimed straight at his heart--  
But Jien returned home, and grabbing his sword,  
He made two quick slashes and cut me apart.  
One with the axe, and one with red flowers,"  
Both showed their love in their own unique way,  
Jien saved Gojyo, his _hanyou_ step brother  
Rather than seeing his own mother slay.  
Jien still remembers me...don't know about Gojyo.  
The scars that I carved on him, surely they burn.  
Red flowers, red blood, red tears, red death,  
They still must exist, unable to turn.  
I often think back on the times that I left  
And ask myself why I did not have the heart  
To take to my arms my crimson-haired stepson  
Who I should've (and could've) loved right from the start.  
Could he have known of the curse that he carried?  
Could he understand his stepmother's rage?  
I forced onto him a truth that he surely  
Could not start to fathom, not at that tender age.  
Sha Gojyo, my stepson; the one who most sought me--  
He of the Sand understanding the Pure:  
My voice will not reach you, now you are grown,  
I learned this too late but I learnt it for sure--  
I have a son. His name was Sha Jien.  
I have a stepson, Gojyo his name  
'Tis both that I love now, there is no more hatred,  
Whether the eyes and hair still burn like flame.

* * * * *


End file.
